Principles of human-centred digital justice: the european approach and ways of implementation in Ukraine

The article is devoted to characteristics of the European approach to digital justice from the perspective of its human-centred nature and identification of the critical gaps in the implementation of the corresponding principles within the Ukrainian justice system. It outlines the two-tier normative framework of the EU, whereby the value-based guidelines, set out in the European Declaration on Digital Rights and Principles for the Digital Decade (2023), are consistently translated into functional standards in the European e-Justice Strategy 2024–2028. It is determined that the European approach is grounded in the principles of the above-mentioned Declaration, the key among them being human-centredness, solidarity and inclusion, privacy and individual control over data, a fair digital environment, and interactions with algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI) systems, etc. The article proposes a correlation between the fundamental principles of the European Declaration on Digital Rights and Principles for the Digital Decade (2023) and the substantial and operational principles in the European e-Justice Strategy 2024–2028 (access to justice, interoperability and cybersecurity, the “once-only principle”, data-driven justice, etc.). The article identifies the challenges and pathways for implementing human-centred e-justice in Ukraine through the development approach applied to Unified Judicial Information and Telecommunication System (UJITS), which, despite its legal foundations in procedural legislation, remains predominantly focused on technical infrastructure. Although intended to be user-oriented and to enhance technical efficiency, the current UJITS Concept does not ensure adequate attention to inclusiveness (in particular, accessibility), cybersecurity, or proper data protection. It constrains the framework for data-driven justice due to the absence of structured machine-readable data (ECLI, open APIs), which hampers effective analysis of judicial practice and cross-border interoperability, and reduces the transparency of judicial data. Recommendations for harmonisation of Ukrainian legislation with the EU acquis are proposed: institutional oversight of data, structural data openness as a prerequisite for data-driven justice, and cross-border interoperability. The legislative recognition of AI in judicial processes as a high-risk system (in accordance with the EU AI Act) requires strict human oversight and fundamental-rights impact assessment, along with transparency in its use. It is emphasised that only a value-oriented transformation will enable compliance of Ukrainian legislation with the EU acquis and ensure fair, inclusive, and effective access to justice. The research methodology incorporates the formal legal method (analysis of EU and Ukrainian normative acts), a structural-functional method (identifying the transformation of values into functional standards), the comparative-legal method (juxtaposition of EU and Ukrainian experience), and an analysis of the architecture of the UJITS.

justice; digital justice; e-justice; human-centred digital transformation; principles; European Union; digital rights; protection of rights; judicial decision; national and international law; international legal standards.